Man charged in teen’s 9-month disappearance

This booking photo released by the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office shows Nathaniel E. Kibby, 34, of Gorham, N.H., arrested Monday, July 28, 2014 and charged with one count of felony kidnapping of Abigail Hernandez, who went missing in Conway, N.H., in October 2013, and returned home last week. Kibby will be arraigned Tuesday in district court in Conway, N.H. (AP Photo/New Hampshire Attorney General's Office)

FILE - In this file photo taken Tuesday July 22, 2014, a missing person poster of Abigail Hernandez displayed in a storefront window in North Conway, N.H., shows Hernandez has been found. Hernandez, 15, returned home nine months after vanishing on her way home from high school. But the happy ending did not put an end to the mystery of where she was, who she was with and just what happened to her. (AP Photo)

FILE-Conway, N.H. police released this photo of 14-year-old Abigail Hernandez of North Conway, N.H. Thursday Oct. 10, 2013. Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young said missing teenager Abigail Hernandez wrote a letter to her mother Zenya Hernandez postmarked Oct. 23 and was received by her mother Nov. 6.(AP Photo/Conway Police department/FILE)

This police artist sketch released Thursday, July 24, 2014 by the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office depicts a man's likeness drawn from a description provided by Abigail Hernandez that she said drove her away from North Conway, N.H., more than nine months earlier. Attorney General Joseph Foster said it is unclear if the girl was taken against her will, lured away, or what role the man may have played in concealing her whereabouts. Hernandez returned home Sunday night. (AP Photo/New Hampshire Attorney General's Office)

A 34-year-old man was arrested and charged yesterday with kidnapping a New Hampshire teenage girl who returned home last week after vanishing nine months ago.

Nathaniel Kibby was arrested without incident at his Gorham home and was charged with felony kidnapping, authorities said.

The police allege Kibby knowingly confined Abigail “Abby” Hernandez, then 14, on Oct. 9, sometime after she left Conway High School for her home. Abby returned home the night of July 20, but authorities have not explained the circumstances of her return.

Attorney General Joe Foster said yesterday that law enforcement officials have worked around the clock to determine the facts surrounding the girl’s disappearance and return. He said Abby provided the police with details of her kidnapping sufficient to warrant Kibby’s arrest.

Kibby is scheduled for arraignment today at Conway’s district court. It was not immediately known whether Kibby has a lawyer. Foster said he will have a press briefing after the arraignment.

Abby’s mother, Zenya Hernandez, has said she believes Abby, now 15, did not run away and didn’t know the man believed to have driven off with her. The police released a sketch of him last week based on Abby’s description.

Abby also issued a statement thanking people who searched for her and saying she believes their hopes and prayers “played a major role in my release.”

Zenya Hernandez said when her daughter returned home, she was thin and pale and had “a look in her eyes I’ve never, ever seen before. And that’s something that’s haunting me, and I think will haunt me for the rest of my life.”

Donald St. Germain, 76, who lives three trailers down from Kibby’s home told the Associated Press he doesn’t know Kibby and rarely saw him.

“The only time I saw him was this spring when he had to fix the roof on his trailer,” he said.

St. Germain said he noticed the police in the mobile home park about noon yesterday.

An hour later, several FBI agents knocked on his door and told him they had arrested someone accused of keeping a girl captive.

Abby’s mother said in a television interview that rumors that her daughter was pregnant aren’t true. She told NBC’s Today that many people think her daughter was pregnant, but she was not.

Foster said when the girl disappeared she apparently had no way to get about or secure food, shelter or other necessities on her own.

Townspeople who searched and prayed that she would return are relieved, but also are looking for answers about where she’s been and how she got home.

“I feel like they just ripped something out of our souls,” Zenya Hernandez said. “And just as I swore that I’ll find her, I’ll find the person, I’ll find out what happened.”

For all we heard about the poor health this girl was in upon her return home, she sure did make a remarkable recovery in no more time than a week. Abigail's ability to write a letter home during 'captivity', his two arrests during this same nine-month stretch, the police sketch looking nothing like the alleged kidnapper, and the apparent good physical condition upon her return, all suggest Abigail may've initially gone with Nathaniel Kibby willingly (presuming NK is the right guy). I would not be surprised to find out the relationship has its roots in an online meeting. Abigail's age still ranks it as kidnapping in the eyes of the law, however. I'm simply saying the facts, as they've been presented by law enforcement, are not consistent with a forced kidnapping. The letter, and her good health, also betray any extended residency in a locked container. The cartoon character in the police sketch suggest she did not want Kibby caught (again, if they've got the right guy). I believe she went willingly, and returned home when the relationship had played itself out, and/or, when Abby became homesick. That's my take on it, with no apologies to Ducklady for dabbling in her pond.

Ducklady wrote:

07/31/2014

Hmmm. I was wondering how long it would take before people who have no information beyond what's in the paper would take it upon themselves to critique the performance of a 14-year old kidnap victim.

DirtyLarry wrote:

07/31/2014

Ducklady, You may get all of your information from just what's in the paper, perhaps just this paper, but you shouldn't presume everyone else does. This story has been all over the media. International media at that. Try to think outside the locked container, Dlady.

Ducklady wrote:

08/02/2014

Way to miss my point, DL. I'll restate it: Critiquing the performance of a 14-year old kidnap victim is one of the lowest things a person could do. You should be ashamed of yourself, but I doubt you will be.
Clear on that now, are we?

RabbitNH wrote:

08/02/2014

Actually Ducks DL did not criticize, he just stated the facts as they are presented. DL is in fact right, the story does not add up. Yet you believe the teen. There is a reason you are not getting the whole story, that reason just might be because the story keeps changing. teens have been known to lie, get caught and in fact change their story.
Stating the story does not add up is hardly criticizing.

DirtyLarry wrote:

07/29/2014

The wish for Abby's well-being is a given, but some questions still need to be answered before this one is solved. Such as, how was she able to write AND snail a letter home, while being held against her will? Seems unlikely a hostage could write a letter, then ask her kidnapper to drop it at the nearest post office.

What I'm thinking is, the police sketch was done with Abby, so she must have said, "yeah, that's what he looked like" when it was done. But after 9 months of looking at the guy, this sketch makes no sense. Unless Kibby passed her on to somebody else and she hadn't seen him for 9 months? If not, then did she not want him to be caught? How would detectives nab him going by this picture? Kibby's neighbors say they never saw the girl at his place, so was she locked up or kept somewhere else by somebody else? Lots of unanswered questions about things that don't make sense here. Should be an interesting story if we ever hear what really happened.

rje49 wrote:

07/29/2014

I see now that she was locked in a container at his trailer. Still wonder about that picture. Could it be the wrong picture???

DirtyLarry wrote:

07/29/2014

How could anyone write & mail a letter from a locked container?

Ducklady wrote:

08/02/2014

Um, their kidnapper made them write it and mailed it?
Are you really this dumb and venal? I'm going to assume you're simply one of those people who enjoy stirring the pot, without regard to any collateral damage to say, a teenage girl.
Go pick on someone your own size, whydoncha?

DirtyLarry wrote:

08/02/2014

Okay. Just how big are YOU, Ducklady?

DirtyLarry wrote:

08/02/2014

Ducklady, Spoz you're harboring a minor without authority, as has been alleged of Nathaniel Kibby in this case. That alone is Felony Kidnapping in the eyes of the law, and there may be even more egregious charges to come with regard to this relationship. Are you going to orchestrate a paper trail that could lead to your capture? You might, but I guarantee very few others would be so foolish. Don't quit the day job, D'lady. Btw, do you drink?

Hunter_Dan wrote:

07/29/2014

More good news in this case. I just hope Abby's ok.

GWTW wrote:

07/29/2014

How much of a factor regular use of weed by Kibby was in this case? He certainly wasnt droned out in front of the tv with the munchies...

Hunter_Dan wrote:

07/29/2014

AND . . . since we're discussing "FACTORS" . . . did you hear that Kibby's a Libertarian! LOL! Hey Nathaniel, aren't the Libertarians supposed to be about, "everybody gets to do what they wish unhindered AS LONG AS THEY DON'T DO HARM TO OTHERS?!?!?!"